1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a socket contact that is curved for pivot coupling of a complementary male pin terminal therein.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There is a need in some applications of the electrical connector industry, to provide a connector that is coupled to a complementary connector by a rotational movement therebetween. Such a connector could incorporate curved pins that are mounted on a first connector, and complementary curved sockets mounted on another connector, the connectors being rotated together about a pivot point whereby the curvature of the sockets and pins have the same radius as the circle described by the rotational movement thereof. One of the difficulties of providing such a design, is to ensure that the curvatures of the sockets and pins are the same, whilst having constant cross-sectional profiles. If the contacts are machined from solid material e.g. by turning cylindrical pins and sockets out of brass, subsequent bending of the terminals will cause deformation of their cylindrical cross-sectional profiles. One might be able to reduce the deformation of the cross-sectional profile by heating the socket contacts whilst bending, but this would be a slow and expensive procedure.
There is therefore a need to provide receptacle connectors with curved sockets therein for pivotable coupling to pins of complementary male connectors, that are cost-effective, reliable and have cross-sectional profiles substantially unaffected by the bending of the socket contacts.